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Software simplifies consent process

Software provider CS-VUE supplied an environmental compliance management system for the first stage of the $709.5 million motorway from Puhoi to Warkworth being built by the Northern Express Group (NX2).

The project has outcome based RMA conditions that provide greater flexibility to the contractor in both design and construction than most other Transport Agency projects. It also requires vigilance from a compliance standpoint.

Prior to using the software on this project the Transport Agency relied on a range of spreadsheet-type systems that differed from contract to contract to manage its consent conditions and compliance.

“Normally a consent holder would rely solely on its contractors to ensure every consent was being monitored and complied with,” says CS-VUE general manager Wayne Fisher (pictured).

Graham Jones, senior monitoring officer at Auckland Council’s Resource Consents department says; “To the best of my knowledge this is the first time the regulator has shared a common platform with both the consent holder, the NZ Transport Agency and the contractor, NX2.

“All parties having access to common software allows us all to be on the same page at any instant in time on the status of conditions. As a project team, it allows us to work in a more collaborative manner.”

Tom Newson, NZTA’s Principal Project manager, says; “As a PPP, the Puhoi to Warkworth conditions require input and oversight from the three key parties during construction and once in service to ensure compliance and management of the outcomes-based consents set by the Board of Inquiry in 2014.

“CS-VUE’s new system provides all parties with quick access and a single source of truth via a two-step validation process with Auckland Council.

“We’re using it as a pilot with a view to using the same CS-VUE application on other large roading infrastructure projects, such as East West Link and the Northern Corridor improvements.”

CS-VUE says it is also working with about 20 percent of the country’s district and city councils and their often complex and lengthy consents. For Auckland Council, CS-VUE manages its stormwater and contaminated land sites.

CS-VUE also manages and tracks resource consents for big infrastructure players and heavy industry. Most consents being managed are around air discharge, water, land use, and trade waste, or consents issued by NZ Petroleum & Minerals for extraction. Sectors include oil and gas, quarrying, mining, and some of the country’s key ports. While clients include GBC Winstone, Bathurst Resources, Fulton Hogan, Landcorp, NZ Defence Force, KiwiRail, BP and Shell. Large packaging company, PACT, is among its Australian clients.